


The Summer Before the Rest of Your Life

by liadela



Category: General Hospital
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hopeful Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-12
Updated: 2011-08-12
Packaged: 2017-10-29 17:26:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/322336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liadela/pseuds/liadela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Less than an hour after Maya left, Ethan was in Kelly's talking to Kristina, her hand on his arm providing more comfort than he deserved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Summer Before the Rest of Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble written for the 10 Sentence Challenge, Week 8 at the Unconventional General Hospital board, If Only in My Fantasies.

Less than an hour after Maya left, Ethan was in Kelly's talking to Kristina, her hand on his arm providing more comfort than he deserved. They spent so much time together he couldn't pinpoint when their relationship changed but, as stared down at their joined hands, he wondered if this is what Maya saw all along.

He remembered Kristina's proclamation, 'I'm gonna marry you someday', and it didn't scare him nearly as much as it should.

Kristina hated when people did things for her own good but the punch to the stomach he felt when she said she was accepted off the waitlist at Brown but was thinking about PCU instead didn't leave him much choice.

He told himself he was doing the right thing when he cancelled on her that night and told her he was busy the next day, when he avoided the park and Kelly's, and when he lied about having a date with a pretty blonde nurse. It was better this way; one day Kristina wouldn't be so wide-eyed and blind and this schoolgirl's crush would fade, leaving Ethan behind anyway.

He didn't know Kristina's decision until Molly dropped off an invitation to her going-away party, telling him to "think about it" and to "never underestimate the power of grand, romantic gesture," of which she had compiled a helpful list.

Ethan had made plenty of mistakes in his life but walking in and seeing Kristina standing there, wearing a pretty dress and a broken heart, made him wonder if this would prove to be the biggest. He snuck out the door before Kristina could talk to him, Alexis' toast about a fresh start and bright future ringing in his ears as he drove toward the Haunted Star and the one man he knew would understand.

Ethan surprised her the next morning, arriving just in time to kiss her cheek and remind her that he'd still be here when she came home for Thanksgiving.


End file.
